The present disclosure relates to the field of kitchen or restaurant equipment. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to a mobile cart for drying and storing holding trays for the food service industry.
Many restaurant and food service settings, and particularly quick service restaurants (QSR), pre-prepare food or order components so as to efficiently use kitchen space and food preparation time. The pre-prepared foods or order components are stored in holding trays that are configured to maintain the quality of the food held therein for an extended period of time. Particularly in the QSR setting, a kitchen will use many of these trays throughout the day. Therefore the cleaning, drying, and storage of food holding trays presents a challenge, notably of space in the kitchen.
Wire frame utility carts are known in the industry, yet these carts are designed for general utility and therefore are not particularly or individually suited for specific tasks leading to inefficient use and operation. Jurasek U.S. Pat. No. 3,680,712, entitled “Modular Display Rack” discloses a modular display rack constructed of wire rod and includes a plurality of disconnectable rack sections with legs that interweave between offset horizontal rods to connect the racks to the side frames. Young, Jr. U.S. Pat. No. 3,915,097, entitled “Multi-Position Wire Display Rack” discloses a wire display rack in which each of a plurality of shelves which pivot about a rear hook and have downturned protrusions that fit into inwardly projecting loop deformations on the horizontal side members. Stroh U.S. Pat. No. 3,977,529, entitled “Display Rack” discloses a display rack in which shelves are secured to transverse portions of sidewalls by depending lugs that extend from the shelves and are received into loop portions of the transverse portions. Simard U.S. Pat. No. 6,659,294, entitled “Multi-Configurational Wire-Rod Display Rack” discloses a plurality of shelves with hook ends that connect over respective horizontal attachment rods of the side frames. Rosen U.S. Pat. No. 9,307,833, entitled “Shelving System” discloses a plurality of shelves with L shaped portions between which upper and lower bars of support frames are received.